Personalization to identify the uniqueness of an individual's life is being used to honor that life after death.
Area funeral homes are reporting an increased interest in both personalized caskets and items that the family can use as keepsakes.
At Traunero Funeral Home, director Richard Traunero has seen jewelry requests becoming more popular.
"Companies are providing bracelets where a portion of the cremated remains can be used, and could include birthstones of both the wearer and the deceased," he said. "Pendants, rings, necklaces, they are becoming so popular that other companies have been opening up to fill the niche."
Jewelry type and cost can range from inexpensive costume to good quality. Although the idea still is catching on in this area, Traunero said usually younger women will want to purchase the jewelry.
"They want to have a part of their grandmother, mother or husband with them," he said.
Another item that has been popular for some time is the personalized blanket or throw, incorporating a photo of the deceased, the family, or something else held dear.
"It's usually six by four, and incorporates the photo of the deceased woven into the fabric," Traunero said. "It's individually woven with a photo of the deceased. We can have that the next day. We place the order and it is made in a factory in North Carolina, and have it displayed during the funeral in place of the flower spray, and can be a keepsake for the family."
Multiple blankets can be made, and Traunero said that the blankets have been popular for other uses and occasions as well, to recognize a new home, anniversary, family reunion or graduations. "Funeral homes are reaching out and offering services that are centered around life's celebrations, for both the blankets and videos," he said.
Traunero Funeral Home also produces videos in house to recognize a celebration. The family provides the pictures, which are scanned in and a video created with background music of their choice. The video can then be used, in the case of a funeral, during the visitation, and can be posted on the Traunero website, where family and friends can view it.
Casket manufacturers have also been personalizing their products, with different panels available for the lids, interchangeable corners, which make the funeral unique and a personal event.
"We offer personalization to the family," Traunero said. "We say, 'This is what you can do.'"
Some casket companies create designs that feature different organizations that would reflect the individual's life or tastes, such as college football teams or baseball teams, even NASCAR. Traunero said the casket companies pay a licensing fee, and that some urns are now being made that are decorated in baseball team colors.
Urns are being engraved with dates of birth and death, and some have had scenes painted on them.
"I haven't seen too much of the urns or caskets that is unusual," Traunero said. "Those families don't come along all the time. Usually we see that with a younger person's death."
Rob Mack, director of Hoffman-Gottfried-Mack Funeral Home, said caskets can be custom ordered, with different exteriors and interiors, depending on the family's taste.
He recalled a funeral several months ago for which the casket was painted to look like the race car the deceased had owned. What happens more often is that a deceased person's motorcycle, car, truck - even a hay wagon or tractors - will be displayed to honor them during the funeral home visitation.
Mack said that the funeral home also sells memorial monuments, which can be decorated with pictures and special engraving to celebrate an individual's life.
Mark Lindsay, director of Lindsay-Olds Funeral Home in Bloomville, said caskets are either personalized through panels on the lid, or some companies are making them with slots in the back for family pictures.
Also available are interchangeable corners, designed to reflect the deceased hobbies,. "The golfer could have a corner that looks like a miniature golf club, a hunter, a deer, a musician, a treble clef," he said. "One that says 'Mom' and 'Dad,' there are different types, 15 to 20 at least."
Lindsay said that one casket company has lids with in-laid pictures to reflect interests; for example, a collage of pictures of family members, or one of the motorcycle that was ridden.
"They have standard pictures that they can pick from," he said. "If they want something more customized, we can download a picture and send it to the local vault company. They lay it out on their equipment, there is only a 24-hour turnaround time."
At Engle-Shook Funeral Home, director Eric Shook said that personalization is important to families when celebrating their loved one's life.
Along with customized blankets, they provide candles, with pictures on them, the name and dates of birth and death. They also offer something called "Thumbies."
"It's an exact replica of the individual's thumb-print," Shook said. "We take impressions of the thumbprints off the individual and they can be put on jewelry, we have a lot of requests for these. They are about the size of a nickel, and can be put on a small charm for a necklace, cuff links, knives, lighters, letter openers, these are just some of the things they offer. It's unique to what the individual wants."
With Engle-Shook's on-site crematory, he said they can now offer a process that creates precious gems from cremated remains.
"What they do is extract the carbon, and put it in a chamber with direct heat and pressure," Shook said. "It takes about six to nine months, but a diamond is grown. They have choices of color of the stone, and whatever shape they want, whether pear, or princess cut. Stones have been set in wedding bands, earrings, necklaces. It starts at about $1,200 to $1,500 on up, and you can grow any size diamond. It's one of the newest, latest things."
With the increased use of cremation, Shook said companies are stepping forward to offer products to create keepsakes with the cremated remains.
"There is a lot of costume created jewelry," he said. "They will take remains and make necklaces and bracelets out of beads that have (cremated) remains mixed with clay that then harden."
"There are some people this works very well for," he said. "Families can say, 'Dad is always with me,' or if they lost a son, 'He is always with us.'''
